Goldthorpe has nothing to apologise for

R Beattie (Letters to the Editor, 19 April) was sufficiently appalled by the burning of an effigy of Margaret Thatcher to tell us that the unions were responsible for the destruction of the mining industry. I would not dream of lecturing the good people of Northern Ireland as to who is to blame for the Troubles, as to do so would be insulting in the extreme.However, it must be said that the Goldthorpe bonfire pales into insignificance against the images I recall of rioting on the Garvaghy Road, which resulted in a number of deaths.

I was in Goldthorpe last week celebrating Thatcher’s death along with 2,000 other people and it was a truly joyous occasion. I was also there in 1984 when the bodies of two brothers were recovered from the embankment where they died whilst picking coal. I make no apology for celebrating Thatcher’s death and neither should the people of Goldthorpe.

She cared not for the communities, like Goldthorpe, that she destroyed so why should we care if sensitive souls like R Beattie don’t approve of our celebration?

Robin Symonds, Fraser Road, Rotherham